Ah, good old Bob. Wait wait, THE Bob Ross? That b*tch of a son stole a few wands of mine a few decades ago! I thought I had forgotten to pour some paint thinner on someone’s grave! Now I just have to decide what brand to use…..

I think that’s the point. This feels a bit like Robb outlining the evidence to Cersei… Ardaic may have been better off outlining his suspicions to the Marshal rather than laying them out to Taro.

However, Ardaic isn’t a player, he’s a servant. A high-ranking one, to be sure, but I think he’s more comfortable just doing his job than getting involved in intrigue. Taro is probably going to find out that he overreached and lose in the end, but he might well be able to take Ardaic down first if Ardaic isn’t careful.

I’m pretty sure Ardaic is using this to his advantage and make Taro his pawn before the other Heads can get their hands on him. It’s not about power, it’s about Syr’Nj.

He still calls them the Peacemakers, he’s glaring daggers in the third panel when Taro makes fun of them, and Ardaic has no idea that Byron is back from the dead and therefore he can’t try to make another pass at Syr’Nj after he manipulates the government into allowing them back into Gastonia.

I mean, him doing this in part for her is one thing, but Ardiac is a patriot. He would never change the course of a nation solely for his own benefit. Part of why he’s staring down this little brat right now is that he knows that isn’t the case with Taro.

I’m sure he’d love if Syr’Nj saw him in a different light in the aftermath, but if he found out about Byron yesterday I think his course would be the same.

Really worried about Ardaic here. Really worried. Knocking Taro out of the game can’t be THIS easy.

—

Oh yeah, sorry for the late comment on the topic: the member of Bandit’s group in Taro’s house. He can’t be there by coincidence. Of course, he’s not responsible for the death of Taro’s family. So, even if innocent, Taro is actually right on him being “oily”, funnily enough.

Don’t be too quick to underrate Taro. He’s a venomous little snake and he only has to bite a fellow once. You’ll just get Taro where you think you can control him, and he’ll slip free just long enough to sink a fang in your arm, and then that’s it for you.

What’s Ardaic’s prime motivation been this whole time?
Gastonia.
What would happen to Gastonia, with most of the movers-and-shakers dead or discredited, the monarch and his family killed by the heir, with cultists lurking underneath, a disgruntled group of adventurers on the loose while also being in the middle of a war?

Ardaic’s going to keep the murders quiet and put Taro on the throne as a supposed proxy, while knowing that he’s figuratively french-kissing a viper.

That makes a lot of sense, but if it’s true, I think Ardaic will have much darker motives for it. There have been plenty of little moments which implied pretty clearly that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the rest of the ruling Council regarding the good of Gastonia. And now here he has a vicious little psycho who has no use for the current order and is willing to do anything, up to and including murdering his own family. And that vicious little psycho is, at least nominally, the heir to the throne.

If he plays this right, he could make Taro the figurehead with him as the real power behind the throne. Then he could egg Taro on to dispose of the rest of the Council for him before finding some pretense to figuratively neuter him, if not out-right get rid of him. Ta dah, Ardaic shapes Gastonia the way he wants it.

Unless Ardaic has troops right outside that are loyal to only him, he probably shouldn’t be laying out his suspicions to the little psycho like this. It rarely works, unless all your own pieces are already in place.

Important lesson for a would-be conspirator. No matter how good your precautions, no matter how good you think you are, no matter how clever you think you are….

Do not call the cops to investigate the scene of the murder you’ve just committed. Especially if the detective acts a bit slow and easily underestimateable. I mean, watch some Columbo, man. Every time you call the cops to investigate your perfect crime, the scruffy and slow-seeming detective finds that one piece of evidence you overlooked and *bam* you are off to jail.

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